Take to the Sky
by A'isha Ishtar
Summary: Ficlet. The life of this organic planet was strange. But somehow, it never ceased to astound Starscream. P.S. it's not really "adventure" but I'm not sure what other category fits... since they're on a strange planet, I figured it was the closest thing.


**Little too long to be considered a drabble, sooo... I've heard that those thingies are called "ficlets". Uh, so that's what this is.**

**Decided to try my hand at giving our favorite flier a little more depth. It was fun to write! Might be just a tad bit out of character... oops?**

**Hope you guys like!**

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Starscream figured a little time away from the so-called "camp" would be good. A few minutes here and there. It wasn't like Megatron really wanted him around all that much anyway. Nobody seemed to want him around anymore; not since the incident with most of the hatchlings dying. You try to spawn a few hatchlings, you run out of food, and everybody turns on you.

There wasn't necessarily much to do out here. Soundwave and Laserbeak did all the reconnaissance; Igor and the repair-bots were fixing Megatron's injury; Megatron himself was usually the one taking care of the sparklings that had survived. Practically the only thing for him to do out here was suck up to everybody, and most of the time no one was in the mood for that.

So he wandered away sometimes. Not far, just to observe Earth's odd life and look at the sky. If he felt like it, he would fly, and it was a bit freeing to be able to fly whenever he wanted, just for the sake of it. To keep a Seeker from the air was to keep an Earth fish from water; the human euphemism "it wasn't pretty" rang true.

He'd seen creatures that were similar to Laserbeak, but organic; after searching the internet he found that such a thing was called a bird. They were capable of flight, and as much as he hated being on this planet, it was comforting to know there was something so like him here.

He had seen a nest of these birds, and became a bit startled as this was the same way Seeker creators protected their hatchlings until they could fly. Earlier in the week, the larger birds - the creators - had gone away from the nest, leaving their hatchling behind. They still hadn't come back, and it was probably safe to assume that they weren't coming back. They had deemed the hatchling capable of caring for itself.

Starscream hovered near another tree and watched the little winglet for a while, from such a distance that he wouldn't frighten it, but he could easily see what was happening. For nearly a breem the little bird simply hopped around in the nest, pecking at the straw and twigs that made it up. As if it would find food there.

It let out little tweets, rather forlorn sounding. Once or twice it peeked over the edge of the nest, as if contemplating whether or not to jump out.

He had to admit, the little thing reminded him of himself as a hatchling learning to fly. He'd been scared at first too. It was natural, because the fear of falling always hung around you as you were trying. Even the most confident Seeker had experienced some trace of the fear at one point or another as a hatchling.

The tiny bird made its way to the edge of the nest, claws gripping it. It hopped once, then twice, and flapped its wings experimentally.

"Go on," Starscream muttered, barely cycling his vents. "You can do it."

The bird stepped away, chittering.

"Come on," he urged, though he wasn't loud enough for the thing to actually hear. "There's nothing to be afraid of." He offlined his optics briefly, then onlined them again. "Well... there _are_ some things to be afraid of, but... they're not worth it. Go on, _do it._"

If he hadn't known better, he would have sworn the thing heard him. The little bird stepped forward onto the very precipice of the nest. It spread its frail little wings, and Starscream couldn't help but hold off from cycling his vents. He watched as the bird fluttered its wings, and leapt off the nest.

And it flew.

The mech stared as the little creature first wobbled, unsure of its flight pattern, then regained balance and soared off into the sky. He lost the ability to form a smile long ago, but if he could have, he would have.

_I knew you could do it, Earth flier._

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**I lurvs reviews, and so does Screamer! But all the same, we'd like to thank you for reading.**

**SCREAMER HUGS! ^^**


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